The Williams Meet The Griswalds

We went tree hunting yesterday.  Take a look at our day: 

"Off we go, into the wild blue yonder!"  Oh, wait, that's the Air Force anthem.  No, we weren't flying, but we were surely walking! 

"Jake, you be Rose and I'll be Jack.  Just let go and feel the wind in your face!"  OK, no wind, no boat, not a drop of water in sight....still, I found it to be a very moving reenactment from the scene in the Titanic! 

We found our tree!  A 14' Douglas Fir.  Ain't she a beaut?

Actually, we passed by this tree several times, joking that it would be absolutely ridiculous to get such and enormous evergreen (which it was ridiculous!)  But we kept coming back, so finally we decided to throw all reason aside and cut it down.  

It took Greg a long time to saw through the trunk on that baby!  Andrew helped.  

So did Jake.  (I took pictures and watched.  I'm not so handy with a saw.)

Jake took some time during the wait to contemplate the true meaning of Christmas.  

Finally, it started to lean.

V. I. C. T. O. R. Y!  

Here are the boys celebrating our success with the traditional hot chocolate (and popcorn and sour patch kids, of course).  I have to put a plug in for JB Tree farm.  When we arrived, there were literally cars lined up along the road waiting to get in.  By the time we parked, only 5 minutes after they opened, the lot was full and there were people everywhere!  That said, we did not wait a minute for anything.  I'm not sure how they did it, but everything was super expeditious!  We got our saw, got on the wagon, found our tree, and happened to drag it to the road just as a return wagon was coming by.    The people were so helpful with the tree, which we really needed, since it was so big.  They got it through the shaker, wrapped and onto the top of our car in less than 30 minutes, and that was with us taking a break for a snack!  We've gone to JB Tree farm since I was little, and I just can't say enough about how much I love this tradition, and how great the workers and owners (who I believe are the same people) are.  

By the Grace of God, our neighbors were home and able to help us get the tree into the house and set up.  It took three men to get it all together, but it actually went very smoothly!  (Thank you, Metzgars!)  We took a rest for a few hours, and then put the lights on and decorated after dinner.  When I started with the lights an entire strand only went around the bottom of the tree once, which made me very nervous.  I was certain that we were going to be driving to Target at 8 p.m. to buy more lights.  Actually, though, it only took 7 strands of lights, which was exactly the number we had!  With the ease of the day, I'm telling you, there's just no way this tree wasn't meant to be ours! 

We had enough ornaments too!  It's not a super busy tree at all, but it's covered.  I think it looks good!  

Just to give you some real perspective.  Greg is 6'3'

I smile every year when I come across this ornament.  When I lived in Pittsburgh I had a raccoon problem for a while.  The darn creatures kept knocking over my trash and strewing it throughout the yard.  They're clever little buggers, let me tell you.  We tried all kinds of things to outsmart them, only to be repeatedly proven to be dumber than, well, raccoons!  The final straw was when I walked out onto my sun porch one morning to find that the cute, but vile, creatures had ripped through the screens in our windows, shredded a 40 pound bag of cat food (most likely the motivator for the break-in), also shredded an 8 pack of paper towels (probably just for fun), and then relieved themselves directly in front of my door (clearly, to say 'you suck, stupid human).  I was livid.  I came to work every day for 3 weeks complaining about raccoons, but that day topped the charts.  That year, my dear friend Marsha thought it would be funny to get me a cute little raccoon tree ornament in memory of my masked friends.  I don't remember what we did to get rid of the raccoons, but eventually their torment stopped.  I do remember the reason for this ornament every Christmas, though, and it always makes me laugh!  

It's a blurry pic, but it needed posting.  Thumbs up to my wonderful husband for getting that star on top of the tree, relatively straight, and without falling into the tree and taking the whole thing down!  He is awesome!  

The boys in front of the finished product.  

Sam doesn't know what to think about the tree.  So far he hasn't climbed it, but he spends most of his time under it.  This morning when I crawled under the tree to water it, he looked at me wide-eyed, as if to say, "Yes!  You got it!  It's GREAT under here!"  

"Must...not...climb...tree...must...not...climb...tree..."

"Darn you, blasted tree!  I will not succumb to your temptations!  I will you away with the reflection from my tapetum lucidum!"  (That's the layer in the back of a cat's eye that makes it seem to glow with flash photography...sorry, cat nerd typing...)

"My efforts are futile!  I must look away!"  

So that was our tree hunting adventure in a nutshell.  Hope you are all off to a good holiday season, and that your tree goes up as easily as ours!  Merry Christmas!